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Her blinker stone better be in that box.
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Mar 28, 2012 12:49
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Ironic Twist posted:Her blinker stone better be in that box. Oh hey, that's a good idea.
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Mar 28, 2012 14:46
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Oh hell. Anthony's in the forest. He couldn't save Surma with all the medical technology in the world, because she wasn't entirely of that world. After that failure, the only way to keep looking for answers was to turn to the mythical-magical realms, and try to understand his daughter's condition on its own terms. He knew the court wouldn't be keen to let him cross the Annan, so he did it in secret. Only his closest friends know where he disappeared to, and they've been keeping it quiet for his sake. This is why he's been out of contact. This is why phonecalls are difficult and dangerous to make, and why medical supplies have to be airlifted in. Can you imagine the shitstorm that would ensue if he was caught smuggling complex court technology or metal scalpel blades into the woods? He's in deep, deep cover, and even this tiny snippet of communication was probably an enormous risk. It's hard to guess what he's doing in there, but I have one more major prediction: Coyote knows.
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Mar 28, 2012 14:55
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Kismet posted:It's hard to guess what he's doing in there, but I have one more major prediction: Well that's certainly a safe guess. 
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Mar 28, 2012 14:58
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Kismet posted:Oh hell. Anthony's in the forest. Coyote would have to be the only one that knew, though. Unless Anthony's now an elf or something, no one else would be willing to harbor a human in the forest. And Coyote would have to be really bored to put the entire forest in danger.
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Mar 28, 2012 15:04
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Ironic Twist posted:And Coyote would have to be really bored to put the entire forest in danger. Can the forest even be in danger with him around? No matter what Anthony or anyone else might be up to.
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Mar 28, 2012 15:05
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Kismet posted:It's hard to guess what he's doing in there, but I have one more major prediction: I'm terrible at spotting sarcasm, so I'll assume you're being serious. I'll like to remind you then of the sweatshirt incident with the "A. Carver" name. Anthony is not in the forest, or if he is, he's clearly hiding. vvvvv Coyote never lies 
Saoshyant fucked around with this message at 15:30 on Mar 28, 2012 |
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Mar 28, 2012 15:06
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Hmm, trickster god who has a penchant for hiding what he knows from other people..? Nah, the Sweatshirt Incident means he's totally on the level guys.
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Mar 28, 2012 15:13
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Saoshyant posted:I'm terrible at spotting sarcasm, so I'll assume you're being serious. I'll like to remind you then of the sweatshirt incident with the "A. Carver" name. Anthony is not in the forest, or if he is, he's clearly hiding. Coyote didn't lie. In fact, he didn't say anything. Ysengrin was the one who made the accusations, and Coyote just said "we are not very good with human clothing", which is evidently true since the sweatshirt turned out to be Annie's. So what we actually had back then was Coyote and his general formally presenting the court with what they (possibly) believed to be material evidence that Anthony Carver was in the forest. They were already familiar with Anthony's name, for reasons the comic hasn't overtly explained.
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Mar 28, 2012 15:41
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Fair enough. Let's leave it as an interesting possibility. Checking back that page reminds me that we never found out what's the deal with the Headmaster. The Forest people say "Anthony Carver" like they mean business, like it's an important name. The Headmaster doesn't bat an eye.
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Mar 28, 2012 16:14
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Satellites are these neat devices that orbit the entire planet. That they are launching the stuff to meet it from a point in the court near the forest means next to nothing, especially considering Donny has already given an explanation for doing so.
Cowcaster fucked around with this message at 16:31 on Mar 28, 2012 |
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Mar 28, 2012 16:26
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As far as I can tell, no one has ever stated that Coyote never lies. Jones said merely that 'Coyote is no liar', which is a far milder statement. I think people taking that to mean Coyote is magically incapable of making an untrue statement ever are taking things too far.
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Mar 28, 2012 16:33
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Oh, I doubt he is magically incapable of lying. It's just something he doesn't seem naturally predisposed to, because it would not be as fun. The truth can cause far more damage than a lie.
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Mar 28, 2012 16:44
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Even if he's up to something nefarious I have a difficult time envisioning something that would require that many scalpels outside of working in a hospital or harvesting people's organs. Neither seems to fit in this case.
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Mar 28, 2012 16:58
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The Walker posted:Even if he's up to something nefarious I have a difficult time envisioning something that would require that many scalpels outside of working in a hospital or harvesting people's organs. Neither seems to fit in this case. ...Or does it? 
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Mar 28, 2012 17:04
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The Walker posted:Even if he's up to something nefarious I have a difficult time envisioning something that would require that many scalpels outside of working in a hospital or harvesting people's organs. Neither seems to fit in this case. Well, when you dissect that many fire elementals, it's only natural that your tools will eventually start to melt.
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Mar 28, 2012 17:24
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Yeah Coyote not being a liar and being incapable of lying are different things. Though all we really know about him is that he is always Up To Something.
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Mar 28, 2012 17:50
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Bongo Bill posted:Somehow I get the feeling he's not just running a clinic somewhere; this is giving off some seriously sinister vibes. There aren't many other ethical things a person can do with that many sterile disposable blades. I've had the idle thought 'maybe he's Dr. Wily' since the static background on his speech bubble and it just keeps getting hammered in. Why are you helping a mad scientist Donny  (I jest, but not that much)
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Mar 28, 2012 17:52
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Donny still trusts Tony a lot, sending him this stuff on request after years of radio silence. He even seems pretty happy and chill about it. Suggests to me that he may know what's going on. Or maybe he just really likes using his cool secret satellite rocket system.
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Mar 28, 2012 20:00
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Ah, so the point of the rocket is to launch it into space, dock with the satellite so it can be deep striked anywhere (or maybe 10km to the west or whatever). I'm gonna predict that the clown class from the last chapter may end up helping launch another satellite. Weren't they studying orbital mechanics as well?
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Mar 28, 2012 22:27
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The Walker posted:Even if he's up to something nefarious I have a difficult time envisioning something that would require that many scalpels outside of working in a hospital or harvesting people's organs. Neither seems to fit in this case. It's not like they made off with a pallet. A scalpel and one or two small boxes of disposable blades is a pretty reasonable short-term supply if you're trying to do anything you'd actually want a scalpel for (as opposed to, I don't know, a steak knife, a sharp rock). A box of 100 is about the smallest quantity you'd expect to find in an institutional medical locker. poo poo, last time I checked even the crappy rural volunteer fire station I worked at buys anything consumable in units of 1000 or more, and usually that means they're throwing out 998 of whatever it is at the end of the year (the other two get stolen by bored EMTs). All this signifies is he's doing something wierd and medical-ish somewhere nobody can reach him, which is exactly what we've known about him from the start. Or possibly cutting matboards. Carving pumpkins. It looks like Annie also grabbed some bottles of pills so it'd be interesting to see what those were. Tubgirl Cosplay fucked around with this message at 06:52 on Mar 29, 2012 |
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Mar 29, 2012 06:38
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The dude is a surgeon, so I don't think it's too much of a stretch to say he probably needs the scalpels to do surgery.
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Mar 29, 2012 07:39
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Elftor posted:The dude is a surgeon, so I don't think it's too much of a stretch to say he probably needs the scalpels to do surgery. He needs them orbit-dropped from Gunnerkrigg because of the NHS cuts.
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Mar 29, 2012 20:20
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Fargo Fukes posted:He needs them orbit-dropped from Gunnerkrigg because of the NHS cuts. Everything makes sense now!
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Mar 29, 2012 21:19
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This computer is starting to stretch my disbelief a bit.
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Mar 30, 2012 08:03
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1stGear posted:This computer is starting to stretch my disbelief a bit. It's a magic computer.
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Mar 30, 2012 08:08
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1stGear posted:This computer is starting to stretch my disbelief a bit. It's pretty obvious that he's covering for something - if I had to guess, Anja and Donald have some kind of magic-meets-technology system cobbled together, but he only refers to it as the technology aspect because his place of employment has taught him to not consider the magical half valid.
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Mar 30, 2012 09:12
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Niton posted:It's pretty obvious that he's covering for something - if I had to guess, Anja and Donald have some kind of magic-meets-technology system cobbled together, but he only refers to it as the technology aspect because his place of employment has taught him to not consider the magical half valid. ...that's what they explicitly described it as in the first place.
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Mar 30, 2012 09:55
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Oh man that sad look on Annie's face in the last panel. It's not even one of those fountains-o-tears pics but just that sad resigned look breaks my heart a bit.
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Mar 30, 2012 09:58
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THE GLASSES ARE OFF. I REPEAT, THE GLASSES ARE OFF. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.
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Mar 30, 2012 14:07
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1stGear posted:This computer is starting to stretch my disbelief a bit. The guy can make massive, Ysengrin stopping shields with the magictech he's got access to. A holographic display stretches your disbelief?
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Mar 30, 2012 14:40
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The suavest computer. I wonder if he figured out how to do that after analysing Parley's powers of teleportation. No, wait, Donald doesn't have a blinker stone he has a blinker pipe. Awesome.
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Mar 30, 2012 16:22
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I wonder what the range on that thing is. Or what happens if you send something living through it. The implications of industrialised teleportation are pretty huge.
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Mar 30, 2012 16:43
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Cabbit posted:The guy can make massive, Ysengrin stopping shields with the magictech he's got access to. A holographic display stretches your disbelief? I think it's more that he's got this one magic thing that can do apparently anything the plot calls for, rather than one or two specific things that make sense in the specific context of something developed for containing Reynardine It's been pretty incidental to the story thus far but it's basically a constantly-running deus ex machina, which is pretty bad to have around. The blinker stone, for example, seems to be another magic swiss army knife but it's got fairly defined rules and limitations and some serious drawbacks all following an internal logic so it's something that aids the plot rather than obviating all need for plot in the first place. Tubgirl Cosplay fucked around with this message at 20:47 on Mar 30, 2012 |
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Mar 30, 2012 20:43
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Deus ex machina typically refers to endings, though.
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Mar 30, 2012 20:47
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weavernaut posted:Deus ex machina typically refers to endings, though. So you can see how one that's going on all the time is bad, bad, bad. It needs some boundaries drawn up or a good reason to not just resolve all conflict and effort in the story forever because ~magic~ real soon.
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Mar 30, 2012 20:48
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But if it's been established as a portal-maker and containment unit, as well as a magic/technology hybrid, it's not a deus ex machina -- the other condition is that it comes out of the left field, with no foreshadowing and (sometimes, I guess) without a trail of red herrings to distract people from the foreshadowing. I mean, it's pretty clear that this chapter is establishing what the computer can do, aside from hold Reynardine -- and teleportation has already turned up in the comic twice, once with Annie's blinker stone and once with Parley's powers.
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Mar 30, 2012 20:52
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MikeJF posted:...that's what they explicitly described it as in the first place. I forgot about that (gogo late-night posting), but I also suspect there's some kind of reason relating to Donald's background that would explain why he sees his and Anja's creations as just machines. Anja and Donald talk about the same system very differently - Anja talks about how the system uses etheric technology to make everything run because she's very aware that the power is a real thing, whereas Donald only refers to the mechanical aspect of their system when talking about it. I mean, the guy's wife is Etherically gifted in her own right, and she's one of the Court's signalers (with an Etheric device!), and he's like "That sure is an amazing computer, huh?". It's just an interesting duality between the way the two of them view their creation. Niton fucked around with this message at 21:20 on Mar 30, 2012 |
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Mar 30, 2012 20:56
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Yeah, I kinda agree that at this point there's a problem with the plot in that there's too many people/things with indeterminate, vast powers that might make some resolutions too cheap.
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Mar 30, 2012 21:09
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weavernaut posted:But if it's been established as a portal-maker and containment unit, as well as a magic/technology hybrid, it's not a deus ex machina -- the other condition is that it comes out of the left field, with no foreshadowing and (sometimes, I guess) without a trail of red herrings to distract people from the foreshadowing. Oh it's been established that it's magic and does stuff to things you say, well okay then. Also did you get your idea of what a deus ex machina is from TVTropes or what Fangz posted:Yeah, I kinda agree that at this point there's a problem with the plot in that there's too many people/things with indeterminate, vast powers that might make some resolutions too cheap. IDK, there's Coyote, who's omnipotent but too much of a dick to do more than screw around in his sandbox most of the time, the Court, who's kinda setting up to be antagonist here, and the kids' powers, which seem theoretically godlike but are dangerous and really limited in application 'cause they sorta suck at them. Donald's/the adults in general maybe problem is that they're like the last one without any of the limitations, which was fine in earlier chapters when they were these remote arbitrary godlike entities (kinda like how adults come off to little kids anyway), but as they get more human and their motivations become more relevant it's becoming a real question why anybody needs Annie and Kat running around playing detective. Tubgirl Cosplay fucked around with this message at 21:27 on Mar 30, 2012 |
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Mar 30, 2012 21:17
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